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New report: Creating mentally healthy workplaces

March 14, 2016

A new report published today by Time to Change addresses the steps employers can take to create mentally healthy workplaces, based on feedback from employees and national best practice.

Time to Change conducted a series of Organisational Healthchecks between 2013 and 2015, designed to review the employee experience of mental health in different workplaces. This report brings together evidence and employer recommendations from those Healthchecks, and draws from the experiences of 15,000 employees across 46 organisations in England.

Of the 46 participating organisations, 29 were public sector organisations, eight were private sector organisations and nine were voluntary sector organisations. Public sector employers included local authorities, NHS Trusts, police forces, government departments, universities and student unions, prison services and a political party. Private sector employers included financial services, communication organisations, utility companies and various health providers.

Voluntary sector employers included national charities and advocacy services.

One of the main aims of this report is to inform employers about employees’ experience of mental health in a variety of workplaces. Through sharing examples, the report illustrates good practices in creating a culture where staff feel able to be open about their mental health across the public, private and charity sectors.

This report also considers different responsibilities of senior leaders, Human Resources and Occupational Health professionals in supporting employees with mental health problems. Finally, the Healthcheck recommendations made to participating organisations about how they could improve their work in this area, based on the evidence from employees, have been summarised in the final section. These recommendations include changes that organisations can make around policy, practices and the working environment. They outline key stages that will help any organisation assess their own progression towards tackling stigma and supporting employees with mental health problems.